September 13, 2013 Reflection

Reflect on my mentor teachers classroom management practices. My mentor teacher is very different from myself in how he manages the classroom. He is very loose in what he chooses to enforce and what is allowed in the classroom. For instance at the beginning of every class he lets the students discuss the news with him. During this time there are a few that acutally partipate in the discussion. The rest simply talk or play on their cellphones for the entire time. I would stop the discussion until I had all the students attention and then I would continue the discussion when everyone was paying attention to what I was saying. Also when there are assignements given out the students can put their earphones in and listen to music as they work. This is not such a bad idea since this keeps the students from talking to each other, but it can be a distraction when you are trying to explain something that the class is not understanding. The only time he wants full attention and quiet is when he is using direct instruction. I want to be able to call the class together at any second. On tests he lets the students put in their earphones and take the test. I dont like this idea either because I think that hearing the music in another persons headphones would be distracting.